"What's the matter?" yelled Bar Seven, raising his voice above the rest. "W'y, you ignorant devil, how could the feller set on the weight when it was only throwed up in the air?"
A chorus of other demands followed, but Brigham only sat on his box, smiling easily.
"Say, what do you take me for?" he inquired, gazing about him pityingly. "If I knowed how that A-rab did that rope-work, d'ye think I'd be punchin' cows? Not fer me—I'd be drawin' a thousand dollars a week back at Coney. Of co'se I can't say how it was done—no more than you can—but that's what makes the show! If the people knowed, they wouldn't come no more! Ain't that so, pardner?"
"Yes, indeed!" responded Bowles.
"W'y sure!" went on Brigham. "Anybody that knows anythin' about the show business knows that. No matter how good a stunt is, it's got to be mysterious or the people won't pay to see it. Either that, or it's got to be feats of strength and darin'. Now this youngest Hassan brother was a strong-armed man. He'd wrap a piece of chain around his arm, tighten up his muscle and pop! it'd break right square in two. Same thing with his chest—he'd wrap a loggin' chain around his breast, suck in his breast, and snap it like a thread. You've seen fellers like that, haven't you?"
"Sure!" said Bowles.
"Yes—all right!" continued Brigham apologetically. "Seems like the simplest thing I tell these fellers some rabbit-twister from Texas up and contradicts me. Well, this youngest brother had a pretty good stunt to end up with—nothin' flashy, of co'se, but pretty good fer a kid. He was powerful strong in the right arm and he'd hold it out like this"—Brigham held out his brawny arm—"and then he'd muscle up, real slow-like, and then, by grab, he'd raise himself right up, and come down over, and set right down on that thumb!"
He elevated his thumb as he spoke, and the cowboys gazed at it as if hypnotized. Then Bar Seven rose up slowly and, walking over to the defenseless Brigham, mashed his hat down over his eyes at a single blow.
"Brig," he said, his voice trembling with conviction, "you're a dad-burned liar!"